Rita and Dodger's Puppies
by Wkdly.Rita
Summary: Continuation of a story published on my old account. Dodger and Rita have a litter of five puppies, this is their story.


Arriving back at the barge, Dodger, Rita and the three pups found that the others had yet to come home. Bandit, exhausted from his wild play session with his new friend, immediately crashed out on Dodger's bed and within a few minutes fell into a deep sleep. Lily and Rascal played together in Rita's bed, which made a great little fort. The pair had to be shushed a couple of times by their mother, so they didn't wake their brother.

Dodger was keen to talk to Rita as he'd noticed she'd been a little down earlier, but figured he probably wouldn't get a chance to get her alone until everyone else came home as there'd be no one to watch the pups otherwise. He sank into Fagin's chair and relaxed, weary after a busy day. Much as he loved his kids, it was quite an adjustment for Dodger to have so much more responsibility on his shoulders, and he was well ready for a break. He kicked back and enjoyed watching the football on the television. Lily tottered over and jumped onto the chair to join him and climbed onto his back to watch.

"Hey Lil, you comfortable up there, huh?" Dodger smiled as his daughter adjusted herself for the best possible view and the best spot on his back.

"Yep. You're a pretty good couch, Dad." Lily laughed.

Rascal was feeling rather left out and having sized up his options, figured that there really wouldn't be enough room for him to comfortably join his father and sister on the chair. He huffed irritably.

Rita laughed as she watched her disgruntled little son. She walked over and picked Nick up by the scruff of his neck and placed him on the footstool in just the right spot so he wouldn't get in anyone else's way.

"Thanks Mom." Said Rascal, as Rita lay down carefully beside the chair.

Rita looked around to see that Bandit was still happily snoozing and then relaxed and enjoyed some 'chill out' time, allowing herself to forget about the worries she'd had that morning for a while.

Sometime later, the rest of the gang arrived home, and suddenly the relaxing afternoon gave way to a frenzy of noisy greetings as the pups milled around excitedly, except for Bandit who was not quite fully awake and wandered over to the others with bleary eyes. Rascal quickly pulled Nick into a high energy wrestling match, pleased with the sudden change in atmosphere and keen to get back to playing. The two little girls caught up and went off to play their own, rather less manic, game nearby.

Francis took up a position on Fagin's chair, out the way of the boys who were sparring noisily on the ground. By now they'd been joined by Dodger, Tito, Einstein and Bandit. Unfortunately for Francis, he soon found himself sharing his seat with Dash and Lily, who figured that standing on top of the sturdy bulldog provided an excellent vantage point for them to watch and shout encouragement.

Rita sighed, _So much for a bit of peace and quiet_. "Alright, that's enough." She scolded, and moved in to remove her sons from the tangled mess of flailing paws. Bandit was easy to retrieve as he was still not quite as wide awake and the others. Einstein and Tito reluctantly backed up from the snarling Rascal who'd been locked in playful combat with them both, so Rita could reach in and pull him away by his tail.

"Oh, _Mom_!" Rascal complained as his back bumped along the floor.

Rita turned to Dodger who was still wrestling little Nick, who was gasping with laughter as his father tickled him.

"So much for a nice quiet evening, huh Dodge?" she shook her head slightly at him.

"Hey Rita, we were just burnin' off some energy so the kids are ready for their nap. A bit of pre-bedtime scrapping never hurt anyone."

"Honestly Dodge, it's like I've got six kids sometimes rather than five." Rita looked around and noticed Tito was now attempting to get a rise out of Francis, who swatted at him as the girls shouted 'fight, fight, fight'. "Make that nine kids."

Rita laughed and padded over to her daughters. "Come on girls, time for your evening nap." She said gently, removing Lily and Dash from Francis' back and leading them to their bed.

Dodger figured that now would be as good a time as any to take Rita aside to talk in private. He turned to the gang. "You guys don't mind keeping an eye on the kids for a bit while Rita and I go out?"

"Oh, I love babysitting" Einstein wagged his tail enthusiastically.

"Make sure they stay in bed, alright?" Rita added quickly, reluctant to come back to renewed chaos.

"Oh we most certainly will." Francis replied, "Forgive me for saying this, but your children are really quite exhausting."

Dodger laughed. "Don't worry, they've exhausted themselves by now, you won't have any problems."

Dodger and Rita walked into the cool evening air together. The sky was already beginning to darken and there was a pleasant breeze to be felt. The two dogs headed out onto the docks and found a quiet place where they could sit and talk.

"So Rit, you gonna tell me what's been troublin' you?" Dodger asked her.

Rita looked down sadly, she'd been trying to keep her worries from that morning at the back of her mind where she couldn't dwell on them, but at the same time she felt she really did need to talk to Dodger about it. She sighed,

"I overheard Fagin back at the Foxworths', he was saying that Jenny could keep one of the pups if she wanted." Seeing the look on Dodger's face, Rita added, "I know the kids were always going to have to leave at some point, but it just seems too soon." She looked at Dodger sadly. "I don't think I'm ready to let them go Dodge."

Dodger nodded, understanding, and nuzzled Rita's neck. "I don't want to see them go yet either, it's all happened so fast." He perked up a bit. "You know, it might not even be right now. I'm sure Fagin's not gonna rush into anything, he loves those pups, I know he wouldn't let them go unless they'd be happy, and you know how long it can take to find good homes for pups that don't come with a pedigree."

"Yeah, you're right I guess." Rita smiled weakly. "I really know how hard it can be to place pups in homes. There's no point getting so worked up about losing them just yet, is there? I'm sorry, Dodge."

"Hey, don't worry about it. Just enjoy having the kids around while we can." Dodger grinned and licked her cheek, causing Rita to smile properly herself.

The pair spent the next half an hour relaxing in one another's company and returned to the barge refreshed and happy. They arrived home to find Fagin had returned from a long day of scraping funds together where he could. The two dogs greeted him joyfully with licks and enthusiastically wagging tails. They were careful to not be too noisy however; as they had arrived home to find that both the children and their babysitters were fast asleep.


End file.
